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A letter petition has been sent to the CJI, stating that its a "sheer violation" of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of India, as the Government order directing Universities to compulsorily conduct the examination of final year students, the order fails to consider the principles of health, safety, fair and equal opportunity for the students.
The petition is been made by a final year law student of Bhopal University Yash Dubey who is also the Circle Head at the Youth Bar Association of India (Student Wing). He has urged the Apex Court to take suo-moto of the issue and to put the Academic Calendar for the Universities "in abeyance", till the situation of Covid-19 normalizes.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs by Universities and Institutions vide notification dated July 6, 2020 had permitted to conduct of exams and had ordered the Universities to compulsorily conduct examination of final year students as per UGC guidelines and Standard Operating Procedure.
UGC has issued revised guidelines for University examination for terminal semester students whereby it instructed Universities to conduct exams in offline (pen & paper)/ online/ blended (offline + online) mode, in furtherance of the aforementioned notification.
In his letter, Dubey has asserted that in addition to the health risks, it will also be extremely difficult for a large section of the students to pay their examination fee or to bear stay and travel expenses to the source where the examination will be conducted.
The letter states:
"The UGC has cited examples of top-ranking Universities such as MIT, Cambridge for conduction of examination during Covid-19 Pandemic. However, by doing so, the UGC has totally neglected the unprecedented difficulties that our country is facing in times of pandemic. To say the least, in these testing days, a section of our society is not able to arrange bread and butter for a day. Therefore, in view of the current difficulties that our country is facing, it is quite unrealistic to justify the reasoning of conduction of virtual examination by relying on examples of the premier institutions of the world,"
Dubey has challenged the compulsory conduct of examination of the final year students, inter alia, on the following grounds:
Further he said, "The suggested model of conduction of compulsory examination takes the students backwards rather than forward. It effectively brings in second phase of postponement of examination, which creates a cloud of uncertainty for the states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Punjab and West Bengal, which already decided to cancel examination."
In order to do complete, equal and fair justice to the students and to exclude possibility of discrimination, disadvantage and risk of life, Dubey therefore urged the Top Court to take steps for formulation of "alternative system of evaluation".
The letter has been supported by 34 other signatory students from the State.
Earlier, a letter addresing to the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Justice DN Patel by a law student from the Delhi University highlighted the plight of students in view of the said Government order. "Academic evaluation and examination system shall not outweigh the lives of students," the letter urged.
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